Honor God's Covenant

by Pastor Peter Lim


Big idea:
God wants us to treasure His covenant with us

1. Rahab Treasured God's Covenant

Joshua 2:1-5
Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. 2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.”


Was lying to save the spies acceptable?
if not acceptable, why God allowed Rahab to be spared?

Ultimately it boils down to how God saw our believing loyalty and righteousness.

# Believing loyalty is trust in Yahweh and a corresponding expression of allegiance to God
- Rahab believes u is sov and she chose to be on His side
- She tied scarlet cord
- The account highlighted Rahab's courage and believing loyalty to Yahweh
- Rahab feared Yahweh more than her people and the gods that her people worshipped
- Rahab imperfect perfect expression of believing loyalty could be forgiven


Joshua 2:8-11
Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[a] for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.[b] 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.


Joshua 6:25
But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.


She was commended in the New Testament

Hebrews 11:31
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.


James 2:25
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?


Matthew 1:5
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,


2. Achan Despised God's Covenant

Joshua 6:18-19
But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”


Joshua 7:20-21
Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia,[a] two hundred shekels[b] of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels,[c] I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”


Because of his action, Israel suffered a defeat when they fought against the city of Ai. Because God was not with them, it could be an easy battle to be won. Achan and his entire family were stoned to death. There was no fear in his heart for God.


That beautiful cloak, 200 shekels of silver, and 50 shekels of gold captivated Achan's heart.


Achan was selfish and fool because he failed to see his covenant relationship with Yahweh was worth infinitely more.


3. Gibeonites were Half-Hearted About God's Covenant


Joshua 9:4-6
they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded[a] with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. 5 They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. 6 Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.”


Israel did not seek the lord, therefore they were tricked by the Gibeonites to sign a treaty with them.

Joshua 9:14-15
The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord. 15 Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.


Joshua 9:22-23
Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by saying, ‘We live a long way from you,’ while actually you live near us? 23 You are now under a curse: You will never be released from service as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”


That oath could not be broken, but the Gibeonites were still cursed...

The Gibeonites sought to associate themselves with Y only for self preser and self intere, they didn't fully commit themselves to Y. They were half hearted.


Joshua 9:24
They answered Joshua, “Your servants were clearly told how the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this.


The Gibeonites were not fully submitted.


What does it mean for us?
A. Enter a covenant relationship with God
- You could be attending church, say grace or read the bible. But do you have a relationship with God, fully committed to fully follow God's ways or you are half hearted?

B. Cherish your covenant relationship with God
- Your covenant relationship with Yahweh is worth infinitely more than any amount of silver, gold and pleasures this world can offer


What is that one small action you can take sincerely, consistently that says: "God, I cherish my relationship with You?"

To follow God's plan

by Pastor John Lin

Big idea:
The battle belongs to the Lord

Following God's plan can sometimes be challenging. It is natural for us to follow what seems to be logical, but God's plan is not logical, our God functions not in the natural but supernatural.

We need to know our captain, our enemy and what's at stake.

Joshua 5:13-15
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” 14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord[a] have for his servant?” 15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.


We are here for God's plan, we are not the in charge.

Joshua 6:1-5
Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”


God is using us as His instruments to demonstrate His power.

#1 Know our Captain
- Battle belongs to the Lord
- When we know who is the Captain, I can trust Him
- He is in charge, the One who directs our steps
- We are the one who participate in His plan
- Is there an area in your life right ow that you need to release control and rely on God's plan and leadership?


God was not bound to our circumstances.

Isaiah 55:8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.


#2 Know our Enemy
- Nephalim were giant offsprings from sons of God
- outright rebellion against Yehwah, derailing and corrupt God's plan and purpose
- holy war between God and His enemy
- enemy is still trying to derail us from God's plan today
- Do you recognize who the real enemy is and his schemes against you?


Joshua 12:1-5
These are the kings of the land whom the Israelites had defeated and whose territory they took over east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon, including all the eastern side of the Arabah: 2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge—from the middle of the gorge—to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites. This included half of Gilead. 3 He also ruled over the eastern Arabah from the Sea of Galilee[a] to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea), to Beth Jeshimoth, and then southward below the slopes of Pisgah. 4 And the territory of Og king of Bashan, one of the last of the Rephaites, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei. 5 He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salekah, all of Bashan to the border of the people of Geshur and Maakah, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.


Joshua 11:21-22
At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua totally destroyed them and their towns. 22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive.


Numbers 13:33
We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”


Ephesians 6:11-12
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.


#3 Know what's at Stake
- Kherem: devoted to destruction
- why Kherem?
- For they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods
- money, sexual sins, ungodly mind sets, bitterness, unforgiveness
- What is something in your life that's going against God's word?
- What do we need to ruthlessly remove in our lives today in order to become more like Christ?


Joshua 6:21
They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.


Deuteronomy 7:1-2
When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.[a] Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.

Remember God's faithfulness

>by Pastor Joey Asher

Remember God's faithfulness!

My generation is lost. Save the next generation

Why do we preserve memories and pass down traditions?

Joshua 3 Describe how Israel cross river Jordan

Joshua 4:3-7 After pass into jordan, Joshua chose 12 tribes

Purpose of stones and significance?

Big idea:
God wants us to testify His faithfulness to the next generation

#1Remember for yourself what God has done

- stones memorial

- V7 says b4 the ark of the Covenant of the Lord when it passed over the jordan

- Represented the most crucial factor of the river crossing which is the "presence of God"

- ark of covenant signify most holy tangible of God with them

- Joshua 4 represent deep waters, God is delivering us through chaos

- Joshua 4:21-24

- also for all peoples of the earth beyond the nation of Israel that God did something miraculous in their times

- remembering what God has done is more than a mental process to have an emotional experience

- Joshua 4:24 says that we may fear the Lord your God forever

- God was with us, is with us and will be with us

- with testimonies we ought to sing praises, fear God


#2 Recount for others what God has done

- to simply tell an event or experience

- Joshua 4:19-22

- Joshua 5:7 is the new generation which God circumcised en masse

- see Joshua 5:9 where Gilgal means rolled away

- Joshua 5:10 shows they were circumcised because of the passover

- circumcision is prerequisite for males because its a covenant between God and His people

- exodus 12:48, exodus 12:26-27

- 12 stones serves as constant reminders

God is actively involve in people

Who is in your "next generation"?
- Own children

- Spiritual children